Digimon: Guardians
by Team-Blue-Magi
Summary: Talyn and Sofi have been guarding the Digiworld alone for two years. They believe their time will come to an end as their last school year closes. But a third Guardian appears, and trouble starts brewing; the two fear it can't all be coincidence... Feature: oc's/actual characters
1. Episode 1a - Introductions

Authors note: To say this is my all time favorite anime, I've only seen seasons 1-3! I'm not sure if everything's _entirely_ accurate, but I've tried my best. The digivolutions follow the simple: Rookie - Champion - Ultimate - Mega. None of that fancy Armor or bio-merge stuff. Some characters from the actual series will appear later!  
All evolution lines should be correct with some weird (but explained) spin-offs later. That's about it, hope you enjoy and please leave me some feedback!  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Digimon.

* * *

**Episode 1 - Trio**

**Part 1 - Introductions**

The alarm clock speared straight through her dream.  
A loud, un-merciful Digital noise that could only bring with it pain and suffering. The same sound which awoke her every day of the week. It signaled the start of the same routine, get up (slowly), get dressed, eat food, brush teeth, pack bag and go to school.  
Amy let out a disgruntled noise and waved her hand to the right, a desperate attempt to shut off the alarm clock. Her hand however, met only air. Cold air, now that winter had fully set in.  
Sighing, she opened her eyes, to find herself on the wrong end of the bed. Somehow she had turned over in her sleep. It certainly wasn't the first time it had happened; she had always been fidgety.  
She moved quickly to the other end of the bed, trying to remain within the warm embrace of the covers as much as possible, and turned off the alarm clock.  
There was a gentle breeze blowing outside. Amy opened the blinds next to her bed a tiny fraction, and much to her delight, discovered it was snowing gently.  
"Not enough to get me a day off school, but it's good enough," she mused to herself.  
She stretched on the bed, trying to get the sleep out of her bones, and yawned loudly.  
She was protected from the cold of the floor by socks, and moved triumphantly to the mirror to see her shoulder length brown hair not as bad as it usually was. Feeling lucky, she smiled and stripped off her pyjamas, putting on the "Half phase" of her uniform. A system she had habituated to for most of her school life now, skirt and shirt on first, then eat, pack her stuff, before finishing it off with grey tights, tie and blazer.  
"Good morning Mum," she exclaimed as she reached the kitchen downstairs.  
"Good morning dear, Becky already left early."  
Becky was Amy's older sister, by two years. She had some trip to go on today with the school, Amy wouldn't see her till much later that day.  
Amy moved to the cupboards and took out a box of her favorite honey and oats cereal.  
"I'll get some milk on my way home from school," Amy said, after noticing the short stock.  
"Thank you, that'd be helpful," her Mum replied, "So, how's Donald?"  
Amy's boyfriend Donald; she had been expecting this conversation.  
"Same old. He's getting stressed about his upcoming exams, he won't listen to my encouragement though," she explained.  
"They never do, exams are more about the person, the most you can do is being there for him, he'll pull through; he's a smart boy."  
Amy said no more on the subject, and the general chat moved to her exams. She was finishing her A-Levels; Chemistry, Biology and Psychology.  
Once she was finished with breakfast, she returned upstairs and got ready for the day ahead.

* * *

_Meanwhile, at the same school, Sofi was busying herself with piano practice.  
She'd had to arrive early today, as it was the day of her practical exam. She had prepared three pieces for the examiner to hear, and hopefully, grant her a diploma.  
She was satisfied with the first two pieces; the intricate melody work was bound nicely with fast-moving harmonies and powerful cadences. The third piece she knew would always be the one that would cause trouble for her. Apparently there was always a song, different for every pianist, which they'd never master.  
Once again, she slipped up and broke her rhythm.  
She still had four hours to go, which was separated by a single lesson. She hoped she would get it to at least sound fluent by then.  
The door to the room abruptly opened, and Talyn walked in quickly._  
"_Trouble," he simply said.  
She sighed, "Can it wait? I really have to practice."  
He hesitated, "It's him again, Patamon's managed to defend without my help, I could go in alone."_  
"_Call me if you need me," Sofi replied.  
He nodded and left as abruptly as he'd entered.  
She flicked through the pages of music and found her first piece. Even as she played it, her mind wandered to the Digital World. Another dimension she had first visited two years ago and then almost every day since. She had sworn to protect it, with her Digimon partner Lopmon. Talyn had also been chosen with his Digimon Patamon. It had been just the two of them, fighting off any evil threat that decided to challenge them. They had managed well enough so far, but she'd always had a nagging at the back of her mind that someday, they would face an enemy greater than the two of them could handle._

* * *

As was usual for this time of year, the school was hidden under a dark canopy of clouds. The snow had ceased falling half an hour ago, making the rest of her morning journey quiet, and darker.  
She stopped upon entering the gates, and looked around the front courtyard. This was her last year at the school, after a long seven years of studying. She noted again the familiar faces of the first years, which were still full of glee and delight as they ran around;the less obedient second years, who had just entered the unwinding of their previously disciplined attitude; the moody third years, far into puberty, they were always the worst; the beginning-of-upper-school fourth years, who felt like seniors, but still had a lot longer to go yet; and the true-senior fifth years, who were close to choosing whether to stay on into the sixth form or not.  
Amy was drawn to the right, where her seventh year friends hung out before the bell sounded.  
She noted the familiar faces, with just one absence. Her eyes met Donald's, and her heart flipped over. Unable to suppress a grin, she moved quickly and greeted everyone, hugging Donald around the waist.  
"You got a music exam today?" Donald asked her quietly.  
Amy was a flautist, who had achieved her grade 8 last year, "No, I didn't do the diploma," she replied.  
She knew what he was thinking. Donald was an academic; he took every chance he could for better grades, to give him the best opportunity to get into a university. He would frown, as he thought she was wasting the opportunities, but Amy just didn't want to put the effort into something that her heart was not fully committed to.  
"I'm not wasting it, it's not something I want to do, and it's a lot of money!" she complained.  
He grunted, obviously not satisfied.  
"So Amy, what about the party?" her friend Alice asked.  
"Party?"  
"You know, Isabelle's 18th! It's the big one, are you going to go?"  
Isabelle Perkins, someone whom Amy was not fully affiliated with. They had always been friendly acquaintances, and probably would stay that way too.  
Amy hesitated, her friends would be there, plus other people whom she had known, but had left the school in the fifth year, she _did_ like to party, but Isabelle was the type who would issue a lot of alcohol.  
The bell rang and interrupted her thoughts. Relieved, she moved with Donald and followed the mass of students traveling into the school building.

* * *

_The bell rang. Sofi stopped her playing, feeling quite odd about leaving a song in mid flow. But she packed away her things and quickly walked to her only lesson of the day, Chemistry.  
After arriving five minutes late, apologizing and explaining to the teacher, she moved quickly to sit with the other four members of the class. Most had dropped after the sixth year, unable to hack the workload. Sofi wasn't surprised, Chemistry was a hard subject.  
Sofi was a solid academic, but by no means a prodigy or genius. She got by well enough, finished all her work and understood most things easily._  
"_Good morning guys. Please turn to page 239; we're continuing our work on Inorganic Reactions. Does everyone have the homework to hand in on transition metal complexes?"  
Mr Lee was a good teacher in Sofi's opinion. He was able to have a joke, and connected well with his pupils._  
"_Amy!" she whispered to the girl who was flicking through her folder next to her, "Did you finish it?"  
Amy looked at her, "Yes, it wasn't that hard was it? I only found question 3 difficult."  
Sofi smiled, "I thought it was alright, but can I borrow your rubber? My complexes got a bit messy."  
Amy handed it to her, and just as she began scrubbing the messiest bits of the picture, the door opened as Talyn jumped into the room. He had been running._  
"_Sorry to interrupt you sir, the Head would like to speak with Sofi, it's a matter of urgency," he said panting.  
Sofi was already packing her stuff away. She knew there was nothing the Head needed her for; this was a matter of urgency in the Digital World.  
Mr Lee nodded and looked at Sofi, "You may go."  
Trying not to run, Sofi quickly left the room; with the eyes of her classmates following her._  
"_What's happened? This had better be important," she asked in the hallway of the labs._  
"_Nothing bad, something quite incredible as a matter of fact, you'll see when we get there." was all Talyn said on the subject.  
He was not the type Sofi usually liked, but Talyn was an efficient and powerful ally to have in the Digital World, and they got on better than she expected.  
They had discovered a permanent route into the Digital World. It was hidden in the library, behind a broken book shelf.  
Actually, the discovery had been quite bizarre. Sofi had first noticed it when a section of a bookshelf was missing, leaving a slim gap. The bookshelves were divided into rectangular sections of four blocks high, by three wide. On the second aisle, nearest the wall, one vertical section could be pushed _into _the next vertical block; much like a sliding doorway. Where the books went, they didn't know, but they always came back unharmed when they pulled it back across.  
Talyn strolled in first, trying not to draw attention to either of them. Usually they'd split up and meet up in the secret room.  
Students coming into the library for work were not uncommon; there was always one or two in there at any time.  
Talyn patrolled the perimeter, checking for anyone who might see them, whilst Sofi pushed the shelf aside just enough to let both of them through. It opened up to a dark room with a single desk inside. Upon which they had found a Digital entrance programmed into an old computer. As Talyn closed the shelf quietly, Sofi took out her Digivice._  
"_Ready?" she asked.  
He stood next to her and nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. They only needed one Digivice to activate the portal.  
She pointed the small blue device at the portal, and it flashed purple, signalling an opening. They both stepped forward, and a large flash erupted around them. The next thing they knew, they were standing in a forest, with a computer screen behind them, showing the world they had just come from._  
"_Lopmon, rally Patamon to our position," she spoke into the Digivice.  
Their clothes changed as they entered the Digital World. She was now wearing an orange jumper with a large white scarf. Her skinny trousers had changed to a light grey color, and she had orange shoes on.  
Talyn now wore a fitted black trench coat, under which was a black waistcoat, white shirt with black tie, and skinny black trousers with shoes. All in all, he looked like a detective, Sofi mused.  
Why their clothes changed they had never worked out, nor why Talyn was dressed up smart. They assumed it was a reflection of their personalities, as neither had complained.  
It wasn't long before Lopmon and Patamon emerged from the shrubbery. There was another figure with them, a rookie Digimon._  
"_Who's this?" Sofi asked._  
"_I'm Salamon," said the small beige dog figure happily._  
"_Salamon?" Sofi asked, looking at Talyn._  
"_Apparently she's looking for her 'partner'," Talyn explained.  
Sofi paused, hesitating as realization dawned on her, "You don't mean?"  
He was already nodding, "Yes, there is another one out there, and he's close."_


	2. Episode 1b - Trio

**Episode 1 - Trio**

**Part 2 – Trio**

"That'll be all," Mr Lee said.  
Sofi had not returned, much to Amy's disappointment. They usually had quite good conversations in Chemistry.  
She packed up her things. The lesson had been a long one by Mr Lee's standards; not very inspiring, just grinding through equations. She had a free next, and decided it would be best spent in the library, studying.  
The corridor outside was cold; a testament to the winter, and the school's poor heating system. People hurried everywhere, first years eager to get to their next lessons, and teachers ushering children around, sixth years moving slowly, and fourth years even slower. It was a sight she had taken as normal for seven years now, but was only beginning to realize she was soon close to it all ending.  
Her school life had been below-par to say the least. She had never been attentive, not until seventh year. She had scraped through by bare minimum, and almost regretted it. Sure, she wasn't the typical deviant either, but sometimes she wished she'd had better memories in this place; either doing well, or failing well. It was a reason she envied people like Sofi, who had done exceptionally by her standards, or Hannah, who seemed to just not care about it. Amy finally did care, but it was probably too late for her.  
Her heart sank and she realized, her time was almost up. It was almost time for her to take up a career, for the rest of her life. The freedom she never knew she had would be gone, and she would be forced into options and choices. Not for the first time in her life, she envied everything else around her. The first years didn't know what their lessons meant, or would mean, for years yet, they could just enjoy it. The sixth years were just starting to see the value of education, and the fourth years were tearing themselves away as much as possible. It was the same every year; a repetitive cycle. She expected much of the seventh year thought the same as her, or she hoped they did.  
The library was much warmer with the added heaters the librarian had placed around.  
The quietness didn't help as her thoughts of leaving circled and circled in her mind. Hell, at this point, she didn't want to leave school.  
'No one is supposed to be _this _thoughtful', she thought.  
She had no idea of what she wanted to do after school. The concept of choosing was more frightening than anything she'd done so far.  
The book she was supposed to be studying from sat in front of her. Words going into her mind and coming straight back out.  
"Would you like to talk about it?" asked a kindly warm voice next to her.  
She looked up quickly to find the old librarian smiling warmly down to her, "I've seen and heard of some problems in my time, but I've never seen anyone read from the same page for two hours straight without moving."  
Amy looked at the clock, and sure enough, it had been two whole hours.  
"I'm supposed to be in physics!" she cried out, grabbing as much as she could.  
The librarian stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Do you honestly think you'll be able to concentrate?" she asked.  
Taken aback, Amy slowly shook her head, "I guess not."  
"Sit back down, let's talk."  
And she did. She spoke for another hour, and the librarian, Mrs Teel, sat and listened. She even made Amy coffee. She spoke of her worries, her doubts, and her lack of plans and hopes.  
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Mrs Teel asked.  
"Yeah," she replied.  
"Why don't you talk to him about this stuff?"  
Amy hesitated, "He's… too busy studying. I don't want to bother him with all this, he wants to do well, and he doesn't need distractions."  
"Too busy for his own girlfriend?" Mrs Teel raised an eyebrow.  
"Well… I dunno; I don't see myself with someone like him. He's so much more… co-ordinated with everything. He knows what he wants to do; he's so serious all the time, if that makes sense?"  
Mrs Teel smiled, "Yes, it does. You'll just have to figure out what you want to do yourself, you have plenty of time."  
Amy smiled, "Everyone says that."  
"Know this; it's not good to keep this stuff to yourself and let it play on your mind. Talk to people, regardless of what the issue is," Mrs Teel said "There's always someone to listen to you."  
Amy nodded at her, the woman was right, she already felt better for getting it out of her system. Something caught her eye, and she turned to see Sofi and a boy, Talyn, if she remembered correctly, stroll past.  
Sofi looked at her, and her eyes widened marginally, but she only smiled and continued as if nothing was strange at all.  
"Those two," Mrs Teel started, "always end up leaving together. Sometimes they'll come in together, sometimes separately, but they always leave with each other. They think some old crow like me won't notice, but they always leave the same aisle too. Not very inconspicuous is it?"  
"What do you mean?" Amy asked.  
"There is something going on between them two. They disappear for… sometimes hours at a time!"  
Amy thought about it, but couldn't see anything happening between Sofi and a guy like Talyn.  
"No way, he's not her type," she explained.  
Mrs Teel merely chuckled, "Not like that dear, why don't you investigate it? I must get back to work."  
Before Amy could reply, Mrs Teel had gotten up and walked out of the library; despite her grey hair and rounded features, the Librarian could 'bustle' quickly away.  
Confused, Amy stood up and packed her bag. She moved to the aisle Sofi had come out of and looked around. It was in the maths and science section of the library. Big, fat tomes of books watched her every move. Words she knew she'd never fathom were contained within, it was almost intimidating. Sofi and Talyn had been walking normally, so they'd probably come from the back of the aisle. They certainly hadn't started off at that speed. She moved on, where another, longer shelf of books faced the aisles against the far wall.  
She didn't even know what to look for, some book of some kind she assumed. Sighing, she started at the bottom of the shelf, and found exactly what she wasn't looking for.  
It surprised her at first, until she moved and it was gone. Looking back, she saw the faintest of lights, almost invisible against even the low sunlight of the day.  
It was coming from between two of the bookshelves; there was a gap between the planks that held to cases together. She looked around and found herself concealed from all eyes in the library, and contemplated how heavy the bookcase was. Her fingers pushed into the gap, and the whole unit moved fractionally. After applying more force, the bookshelf began moving sideways _into _the adjacent bookshelf.  
Stunned, Amy looked at it, and sure enough, the books were just going into the side of the wood. She looked into the gap she had made, and saw a room beyond, containing a single desk and a computer.  
'They must be working together on something', she thought, and quietly slipped in.  
It was dark inside, the only light coming from the monitor. At first, she was dubious of her discovery, and left the bookcase open, not trusting it to open if she closed it. She'd only be five minutes anyway.  
Moving forward into the light of the monitor, and looked into the screen, and found a screen saver of a forest.  
"Hello," said a voice from the screen.

* * *

"_I don't like it Talyn," Sofi exclaimed._  
"_Why not?" he replied._  
"_Why now? We've got mere weeks left, why should a third show up now? Does it not seem ominous to you?" she asked.  
He remained quiet for a while.  
They were stood outside in the school courtyard, braced against the cold. They had fared worse in the Digital World._  
"_It does seem a little strange. Our time's almost up; maybe it's the next cycle of Digidestined."_  
"_But we're still here; they should show up_ after_ we've done, according to the legends."_  
"_We're not Digidestined though are we?" he asked, "None of it points to the fact that we are, we're just… an interlude or something. Maybe there was a glitch and it took time to get it fixed."  
It was a revelation they had discovered when Patamon and Lopmon took them to the ancient Digital World temples. Talyn and Sofi weren't true Digidestined, it wouldn't work with just two of them. It didn't bother them, as legend says, Digidestined usually had to sacrifice something or face a near impossible task, and it wasn't something they wanted to face up to anyway. They were just… guardians. Temporary._  
"_I'm still not convinced," Sofi said._  
"_We'll probably never meet who it is anyway. It'll be a group of friends somewhere else, in a whole different country. Salamon will find them and we'll be done with it before we know it." Talyn said.  
Sofi hesitated, "You sound… glad to be rid of it?"  
He stiffened, "I didn't mean… never mind."_  
"_Do you want it to end?" she asked. She couldn't bear the thought; it hung over her every day. Another thing the legends had said was that time in the Digital World was limited. She hoped with all her heart that it was purely for Digidestined, and that she'd never have to leave.  
Talyn looked at her, into her eyes, and he gave up, "No, I never want it to end Sofi. I… want to be able to go there forever, and I don't…"  
He paused._  
"_Don't what?" she asked gently.  
He turned away, "Never mind."  
It was a surprising emotional speech from Talyn, and Sofi dared not press for more._  
"_I'd better get going, see you around," he said, and strolled away.  
He was a cold person, but she knew there was warmth somewhere inside of him, 'Talyn,' she thought, 'it doesn't have to be this way; we could be friends outside of the Digital World… I want to be friends.'  
Sighing, she wrapped her coat around herself and headed back to the music room to continue preparing._

* * *

Amy looked up and down the monitor.  
She had overcome the initial shock. The voice had come from within the computer, a high-pitched sound that made her close the door to a tiny gap she definitely still could get out of.  
"H-hello?" she whispered.  
"Hi!" came the voice abruptly. It was a little feminine.  
"I can't see you," she said.  
"Down here!" said the voice.  
Amy looked at the bottom of the screen again and saw nothing.  
"I… still can't see you, what's your name?"  
"I'm Salamon! I've been waiting ages for you!"  
"Salamon? That's a strange name, are you from England? Is this a video chat or something?" she asked.  
"What's a video chat? Why don't you come through? Then you'll see me," said the voice.  
"Come through what?" Amy asked.  
"The screen silly! That's what the other two did anyway."  
The other two? Surely this Salamon couldn't mean Sofi and Talyn.  
"I can't go through the screen! Do you live locally or something? It doesn't look like anywhere around here… Besides, I'm not about to go meeting up with some stranger," Amy said.  
She heard whispering on the screen, and recognized there were other voices, but she couldn't understand what they were saying.  
"Patamon says you should try reaching through."  
"Patamon? Reaching through what?" she asked again.  
"The screen," said a new voice. Amy assumed it belonged to this Patamon.  
"But, that's not possible!" she complained.  
"That's what Talyn and Sofi did the first time."  
Amy stopped. They _did _mean Talyn and Sofi.  
"What are you talking about?" she asked, and touched the glass. It was cool against her fingertips, "nothing's happening."  
"Because you don't believe it will," a new voice said.  
"How many of you are there? Do you all have microphones?" Amy asked.  
"What's a microphone?" asked… she couldn't pick out whose voice it belonged to, they all sounded the same.  
"Come on! Jump through!" shouted one of them eagerly.  
"It won't work!" she hissed.  
"Believe in it, and it will work."  
"Come on! You're my best friend Amy!"  
It took Amy a second to realize what just happened, "How do you know my name? Who are you?"  
"It says it on this, here, catch!"  
A bright light erupted around her and Amy felt something light crash against her stomach. Once her eyes had readjusted, she saw a small metal device on the floor. It was silver and red in color. She picked it up and examined it.  
"What's this?" she asked.  
"Point it at the screen!" said one of them.  
"Is this some sort of prank or something? It won't do anything!" Amy said.  
"It'll transport you here! Just do it already!"  
"Transport me where? What are you talking about?" Amy asked.  
"To the Digital World."  
"This makes no sense," Amy said. She pointed it directly in the middle, more to prove a point than anything, if she couldn't see them, the doubted they could see her, plus there was no obvious camera. But much to her surprise, the world flashed, and moments later she found herself in a forest.  
She recognized it as the forest from the computer.  
She panicked, crying out in alarm and spinning around to be faced with three… monsters.  
The first looked like a puppy, the second a hamster with wings on its ears, and the third, a brown bunny with pink marks on it.  
"Finally!" said the puppy as it jumped at her.  
She screamed and fell to the floor, trying to evade the attacking dog.  
She rolled and tried to get it off till she realized it wasn't attacking her, it was rubbing its head against her chin. She grabbed it, held it up and took a closer look.  
"I'm Salamon, it's nice to finally meet you Amy!" it said, its mouth pulled into a large smile.  
"What… are you?" she asked, her eyes wide, "What the hell just happened?!"  
"I'm a Digimon," Salamon said.  
"You're a talking dog!" she cried out.  
"Calm down Amy, it's ok," the rabbit said.  
"And a talking rabbit!?"  
"And a talking hamster!" said the orange hamster happily.  
"I'm dreaming," Amy said quickly, "There's no other… logical explanation for this."  
"No, as unfortunate as it may feel to you, you are not dreaming. You are in the Digital World, if you'll calm down I'll explain," said the rabbit.  
The three certainly didn't seem… evil, if that was the right word. Amy gathered her wits.  
"Ok, what's going on?" she asked.  
"Aw, I wanted to have some fun," said the hamster.  
"My name's Lopmon, you know Salamon, and this 'enigmatic personality' is Patamon," Lopmon started.  
"I know Salamon?" Amy asked quietly.  
"You will do," Lopmon said, "The world around you is called the Digital World, as far as we know it's an alternate universe from your own, a sort of parallel that is connected via Digital streams of data. We are Digimon, also known as Digital Monsters, scraps of data organized into artificial intelligence."  
"Hey! We're not data," Said Patamon.  
"I'm explaining it in terms she'll understand!" Lopmon shouted back, "You now have in your possession what is called a Digivice, it is a tool that uniquely bonds you to a single Digimon partner, who happens to be Salamon; like always though, we do not know why you were chosen or for what purpose."  
"You sound like you've done this before? How do you know so much?" Amy asked. She moved into a more comfortable sitting position, and Salamon strolled up to her and rubbed her head on Amy's knee, making her jump.  
"I haven't, but other Digimon have, and the legends have passed down from there. I just took the time to learn what we _can _learn. What matters is that you have been chosen to come here for some purpose along with Sofi and Talyn, it may have to do with protecting the Digital World, saving it, or just witnessing an event that triggers the next cycle."  
"The next cycle?"  
"Of Digidestined, children like yourself who come here, usually in larger groups than this time at least. Hence, we don't really think you are Digidestined, just a sort of catalyst," Patamon interjected.  
"Well put," Lopmon said, sounding sarcastic.  
"I sound almost as obnoxious as you!" Patamon joked.  
"There's nothing obnoxious about knowledge!" Lopmon retorted.  
Amy tried to process this, but she didn't get far.  
"Wait, so, I'm being used by Digimon to trigger or speed up something? I know what a catalyst is," Amy asked.  
"We don't know," Lopmon replied.  
"We have to discover it!" Salamon exclaimed happily.  
"That's not helpful!" Amy complained, absent-mindedly rubbing Salamon on the head, "So, where'd Sofi and Talyn go?"  
"They know there's another Digidestined around, they went to look for her, but you're here, so we'll have to wait for them to come back," Lopmon said.  
"We could signal them," Patamon said, "But we thought you'd like to have a look around first."  
"This is a whole different world then?" Amy asked. She got up and began walking around the small clearing in the forest. "I mean, you hear of stuff like other worlds in science-fiction books, but, I'd never expect it to be real. Is it small or big?" she asked.  
"Is what small or big?" Lopmon replied.  
"The Digital World? Is it just this forest?"  
"It's bigger than this silly!" Patamon said, "There are caves, caverns, glaciers, mountains, deserts, other forests, even small settlements of Digimon."  
"You're telling me, that crappy little old computer in there created an entire world that you can just… jump into?" Amy asked.  
"We've never left here, so we wouldn't know," Lopmon replied.  
"You can explore as much as you want," Patamon interjected.  
"I don't want to, in fact, how do I get out?" Amy asked. She turned and walked to the computer.

* * *

_Talyn's Digivice beeped as he walked down the corridor. It was a distress call from Patamon; he assumed Sofi had one too.  
Wondering what it was about, he turned and strolled to the library, expecting to find Sofi along the way. School had a mere thirty minutes left, so he'd have to be quick. He then realized Sofi was probably just finishing her exam, he didn't know for sure when it had been.  
The door to the library swung open, and the first thing he noticed was the lack of life. Even the ever-present Librarian wasn't in the room. Thanking his luck, he moved swiftly over to the science and maths section and noticed the larger gap between the bookcases; Sofi or he would never leave it that way.  
He pulled it open, slid inside but found no one in the tiny room._

* * *

"You can't use that to get out, it works differently," Lopmon said.  
Before trying, Amy placed the 'Digivice' in her pocket, "So how do I get out?"  
"Why do you want to leave?" Salamon asked, looking upset.  
"This is just too weird! This shouldn't happen! This _doesn't _happen!" she explained.  
"But you're here, Talyn and Sofi adjusted well enough," Lopmon said.  
"Well, I don't know about Talyn," Patamon smirked.  
"But… the computer! How can I fit inside that computer?!" she asked, "And how do I get out!?"  
"You can't, you're trapped here forever," Patamon said.  
"You're quite the little joker aren't you?" Amy retorted sarcastically.  
"Just point your Digivice at the screen," said a completely new voice.  
Amy spun on the spot to find herself faced with a very formal looking man. He wore a suit and a longish black trench coat. She studied him more and recognized him as Talyn.  
"Talyn?!"  
"Amy, of all the people I'd never think of," he replied quietly.  
"They told me it wouldn't work," she said, pointing at the three Digimon, "Get me out of here."  
"Just point it and go through," he replied calmly.  
"We were stalling you," Patamon said.  
Amy glared the hamster to silence, and quickly ran back over to the screen. The world once again flashed and she found herself in darkness.  
The bookcase was closed more than she could pull on, she was trapped.  
For some reason it had a cover on the back of it, so she couldn't see beyond, but she could knock.  
It wasn't long before it once again slid to the side and Sofi appeared.  
"Amy!?"  
"That is some messed up computer you've got there," Amy said, and pushed past her, running out of the library and not stopping to look back.

* * *

_Talyn waited for Sofi to enter the Digiworld._  
_"I was just finishing off when I heard the signal, I came as fast as I could," she explained._  
_"Well, we've found her," Talyn mused._  
_"She's been in my Chemistry class all year! I'd never have put her as one of us. What do you think?" Sofi asked._  
_"She can't be the next cycle of Digidestined… she's too old, she'll be leaving this year as well. I think she's supposed to be one of us, but this close to finishing? Something's going on."_  
_"Will she be back?" Salamon asked._  
_"She won't be able to keep away, you humans have a terrible weakness for curiosity," Lopmon replied._  
_"Come on, school's almost over, we'd better head back," Talyn said, "Keep safe guys."_  
_"Salamon, stay with Lopmon and Patamon, they'll protect you," Sofi instructed the happy dog._  
_After that, they left. Their time in the Digiworld was limited to their school hours, so they could only travel there during free lessons, and had to leave when school finished._  
_"Should we catch up to her? She usually waits with her friends for their buses," Sofi exclaimed._  
_"Yes, I suppose we had better," Talyn said, and they jogged out of the library to begin searching for the third in their little team._


	3. Episode 2 - Trials of Champions

**Episode 2 – Trials of Champions**

The next day, Amy woke up to find the 'Digivice' still on her desk.  
She thought back to the previous day, wondering if it had all been a strange dream… But it couldn't have been, the Digivice was proof, as was the mountain of work she had to do.  
How was it possible that another, digital World existed? How could someone just teleport through a computer screen? She would have to confront Sofi today; since she didn't know Talyn all that well. How long had they been going?  
She pondered the questions over and over at breakfast, her Mum staying quiet, noticing her daughter was deep in thought. It was her sister, Becky, who broke the silence.  
"Did someone die?" she asked.  
Amy looked up, a little startled, "What?"  
"It's so quiet! What's up with everyone?"  
"Uh, nothing, just thinking," Amy replied quietly.  
"Fine," Becky said, "I'm off, see you later!"  
"Bye."  
Amy was left alone with her Mum, and the silence stretched on. She hadn't taken the Digivice with her; it was stowed away in her school bag.  
"You seem to be in an awfully bad mood recently," her Mum noted.  
Amy sighed, "Just stuff going on, I'll get over it; I'm sure."  
"Well, it's good to talk about it you know?"  
"I had a chat with someone yesterday, but, it's new stuff, and it's not really stuff I _can_ talk about, if you know what I mean?"  
"Oh God, someone didn't _actually_ die, did they?" her Mum said with a worried look on her face.  
"What? No! It's nothing like that," Amy replied.  
"Is it Donald?"  
"Mum, you're obsessed."  
"You can't blame me for being curious. You say you've met a guy, I've never heard of nor seen him, and he's the first guy in what… going on 5 years now?"  
"Have you been counting? Seriously Mum, not cool," Amy placed her dishes in the sink and scrubbed them down quickly, "I've no idea what to do about Donald, but this doesn't concern him either."  
"Ok, sorry I asked," her Mum moved to the other side of the kitchen, busying herself with the cupboards.  
"Thanks Mum, I know you're just worried, but seriously, I'll figure it out," Amy muttered.  
"I know you will, have a good day."

* * *

Sofi had left the window open all night.  
It was February, and despite it being late winter/early spring, her room felt like the arctic itself.  
"Heaven's above!" she muttered as she closed the window, and turned the radiator up.  
"Sorry Dad, but I need warmth," she mused.  
Her Dad was the save-money type of guy; she was always lectured on how they didn't need things like central heating, or anything modern for that matter. Luckily, she hadn't acquired hypothermia during the night, and could still wrap herself up, emptying half of her already small wardrobe in the process.  
"No school today?" her Mother asked, seeing her waddle down the stairs in regular clothes.  
"I left my window open, I'm freezing," she explained, moving with great difficulty.  
"Why did you do that?" her Dad asked.  
She looked at him, "No idea, for the fun of it."  
Her Dad didn't get humour, not a lot of it anyway.  
"It was an accident," she explained.  
He nodded and returned to reading the paper.  
"We didn't see you much last night," her Mum stated, "how did your exam go?"  
Sofi had had to work the night shift in the small shop t the end of the road last night, due to a phoned-in illness, "It went ok," she said, "Actually, the first and third pieces were my best ones, it was the second that let me down."  
"But the second was your best!" Her dad exclaimed.  
"I know, I guess nerves got to me a little. You know the part in the third one that I couldn't do? It came out fluently! I've never played it so well, I was so surprised, I nearly messed up the rest of it," she explained.  
"Well, at least that's one out of the way!" her Mum said happily.  
"When will you know if you passed?" her Dad asked.  
"Couple of months," she replied.  
"Good, now you can focus on the rest of your exams."  
Her Dad had always pushed her with exams, always urging her on to perform her best and study hard. At times it frustrated Sofi to no end, but that was just who he was.  
"It's a couple of months before we even finish the courses," she explained, "I've got plenty of time."  
"Early bird catches the worm," was all he replied.  
She sighed quietly and finished eating, then returned to her still-cold room, and packed her bag for the day. Her eyes flashed to her Digivice and she thought of Amy; it had completely left her mind. They hadn't found her after school; she must have gone straight home. Lopmon had said Amy would come back of her own accord, and whilst Sofi didn't doubt this, she thought it would probably be a better idea if Talyn and she went to find Amy in the real world first. She didn't have any means of communicating Talyn in the real world, but sometimes he walked the way to school as she did. Today, she hoped, was one of those days.

* * *

Talyn was waiting by the crossing he knew Sofi would come through.  
"Good morning," he said.  
"Hey," she replied, "We've got quite a day ahead of us haven't we?"  
He nodded, "Yes, I've been thinking about how we could approach her, do you think we should wait for her to go back to the Library?"  
"I think we should definitely talk to her in this world before she goes back there," Sofi replied.  
"Yes, that seems logical," he said.  
"I was thinking Talyn; do you think it would be worth having a means of communication other than Digivice distress signals? I mean, do you have a phone? It would be so much easier to get a hold of you if something like this happens again. Plus with the added member, it will be better to keep in touch," Sofi suggested.  
"I guess so, I never really thought of that. Do you think she'll become a member?" he asked.  
"I've never come across Salamon before, so it could have some powers we may find useful. I hope she does choose to join us, three's always better than two," Sofi replied.  
"How's that book you're writing?"  
"Steady, we haven't met many new Digimon yet, so I've been organising it and editing some pages and evolution lines," Sofi replied. She was recording and mapping every Digimon they encountered, as well as their own, into an encyclopaedia, a sort of reference book.  
"A new Digimon and person appear; do you think there's a possibility more new, possibly dangerous Digimon are on their way?" Talyn asked.  
"It's a possibility we can't rule out, it's our job to be on the lookout for things like this," Sofi replied.  
"What do we know about Amy? Is she really suited for it?"  
"She must be, or else she wouldn't have been chosen. But I know what you mean, from what I can tell, and I only see her in Chemistry, she's a very… non-committed person. You know, loves everyone and everyone loves her sort of thing," Sofi replied.  
"Where do you think she'll be this morning?" Talyn asked.  
"With her friends, or hiding from us," Sofi laughed.  
"You'd better talk to her first, I might intimidate her," Talyn replied.  
Sofi mused, "Not if you at least _try_ to be nice."

They found Amy tucked away at the back of her friends' circle.  
"I'll wait here," Talyn said.  
Sofi tried to catch her eye, but Amy wasn't having it, so she starting walking towards the group.  
Sofi knew everyone in the year, as was part of her job being on the student council, so she easily infiltrated the group without causing a scene.  
"Sorry to interrupt," she said, "Amy, can I talk to you?"  
She guessed Amy must have been expecting it, because she nodded, but kept her eyes lowered. Sofi lead her away from the group, but not towards Talyn, who watched them from the corner of his eye.  
"So, how are you?" Sofi asked, not sure of how to go about this.  
"Look Sofi, I know why you're here," Amy said, "I don't know what the hell is going on, so I'll listen to you. Sorry for running off yesterday, but I got a little freaked out."  
"I understand, that's perfectly normal; it happened to me too," Sofi tried to reassure, "When do you have a free lesson today?"  
"Period 3," Amy replied.  
"That's great, come to the library, me and Talyn will be there, and we'll tell you everything you want to know, sound good?" she asked.  
"Yeah, I'll be there."  
"Good, but one more thing, please don't tell anyone about it? Obviously, we want to keep it a secret," Sofi said.  
"I went to another world yesterday… Yeah, that's not a good conversation point, don't worry about it," Amy replied.  
They moved apart and Sofi returned to Talyn.  
"Period 3, library, she's agreed to talk to us," Sofi said.  
"Good, I guess I'd better get going, I've got double Law first," Talyn said, and he strolled away quickly.

* * *

It played on Amy's mind for the whole morning.  
She'd had a double lesson of biology, and hadn't focussed at all. Her notes were skeletal, barely covering a whole page. She'd have to catch up, but the upcoming meeting bothered her more. She had a Digimon… and she didn't even know what that meant. When the bell rung, signalling break, she didn't bother waiting the twenty minutes for period 3, but simply packed her belongings away and went straight to the library. It was a large room, a two floored building attached to the main block of the school. It was quite possible to get lost in the innumerable shelves that littered the second floor, which stood open on the right, and there was plenty of study space on the bottom floor with desks arranged singularly, or doubled up for group study. Two staircases led up and down to the taller second floor. Some bookcases had ladders to reach particularly high sections. Of course, the lower years were banned from using them. The entrance to the dark room was on the second floor, on the far right wall, where adjacent perpendicular shelves led to it, but was covered by another adjacent parallel shelf of books beyond them. Amy had never used enough of the library, she came here to study often nowadays, but had not done so before her final year, nor had she ever made use of the vast resources it contained. The Librarian, Mrs Teel, who'd spoken to her yesterday, sat at her desk on the bottom floor facing the entrance. Amy didn't bother the elderly woman, but moved straight over and sat at a desk just next to one of the staircases. The Library was open at all times, but opened to the lower years during break and lunch. During that time, it became a room as noisy as every other in the school. Studying was near impossible, so Amy sat and waited. Her friends would wonder where she was, but she had more urgent matters to think of.  
Only twenty minutes later, bang on the bell, did Sofi and Talyn finally enter.  
They certainly didn't look like any sort of team. Sofi was refined, intellectual looking, her eyes surveying the room quickly, her long wavy hair falling down to her shoulders, whereas Talyn stood a whole head taller than her, with scruffy, layered black hair, bored looking eyes pointing directly at her. He nudged Sofi and they both walked quickly over to her, Sofi muttering words rapidly to Talyn.  
"Hey!" Sofi said happily, a smile spread across her face, "I feared you wouldn't come."  
Talyn nodded at her, and sat down rather awkwardly.  
"Hello," Amy said quietly.  
"Don't be so nervous," Sofi joked, "We're not here to interrogate you; in fact _you_ should be the one doing the interrogating."  
Amy took this as her cue, but where to start?  
"Ok… I guess the first thing is… what is that place? The… rabbit said it was a Digital World?"  
"Good question," Sofi replied, "Yeah, it's a Digital World, or Digiworld for short. From what we know, it was a computer program developed by the Japanese some years ago now, that… escalated somewhat, we don't know much. Um, it's inhabited by those Digimon, or Digital Monsters, that you saw, though they come in all different shapes and sizes."  
"How long has it been there?" Amy asked.  
"We don't know for sure, like I said, it was developed in Japan, many years ago. There is something strange though, The Digiworld 'appears' to have been around for much longer than it has here in the real world, and we think that may be because it had its history programmed into it. I mean, there are stories, legends and myths, everything you'd expect from a world, but it can't have been around long enough in the real world for that to happen. Make sense? So we think that a lot of History was just computed into it. One thing we do know however, for as long as it has _actually_ been running, there have been humans inside it."  
"Real people? Like us?" Amy asked.  
"Exactly, for some reason, certain individuals were able to transcend the barrier between the real world and the Digiworld, and this has been going on for decades now," Sofi explained.  
"Certain individuals?"  
Sofi looked at Talyn.  
"This is where we come in," he began, "Throughout the Digiworld-real-world history it seems groups of people, usually 5 or 6 kids, enter the Digiworld. We call them Digidestined. The first ones were Japanese, for obvious reasons, but it soon became global. The Digidestined are chosen for some quality they have, and have to save the Digiworld."  
"Save it?"  
"For as long as it's been running, it's been subject to evil… Sometimes Evil Digimon, sometimes evil programming, but the Digidestined are always chosen to save it, and they've never yet failed," Talyn explained.  
"I know it sounds a bit sci-fi, or fantasy, talking about good and evil in a computer programme, but it's long been thought the Digiworld has taken a life of its own, away from its programming," Sofi interjected.  
"Like an AI?" Amy asked.  
"Sort of, I suppose," Talyn replied.  
"Ok, so why us? Why can't these Digimon save it themselves?" Amy asked.  
"Again, we don't know much, but there's a bond formed between a Digidestined and their partner that allows the partner Digimon to acquire some great powers. It normally allows the Digimon to undergo a process called Digivolving, where it… changes, powers up. But they can't usually do it without the bond, not on command, but they can Digivolve when they grow old and gain more energy. The bond is actually a physical entity, and you already have yours, it's the Digivice you received yesterday," Talyn said.  
Ami took hers out. It was red and silver, small, and oddly shaped, "This binds me to that dog?"  
"Salamon, yes" Sofi said.  
"What about you guys? How long have you been Digidestined?" Amy asked.  
They looked at each other again.  
"Two years," Sofi replied, "We first went at the start of A-Levels. But we're not Digidestined."  
"What do you mean?"  
Talyn spoke up, "We'll explain all this later, you just need to know, you've been chosen, we think, to be one of us, to work with us. Will you accept?"  
"Talyn!" Sofi hissed, "Let her think a bit first. Look Amy, we're not trying to tell you it's your destiny or anything, and if you choose to join us, there's a pretty steep learning curve to go through, so all _we're_ asking is, come with us, we'll show you what we do, let you get a feel for the place, and then you can make up your mind? How will one visit hurt you?"  
Amy considered this, "Is there anything I need to do?"  
"Just make sure you bring your Digivice and some food, we're in there for quite a while sometimes," Sofi said, "we've got less than an hour, but we can go through lunch as well, Talyn and I both have Physics later, so we'll have to leave anyway."  
"Fine, let's go," Amy said, picking up her bag and standing.  
The other two led the way, telling her to split up and to come in intervals, so as to reduce any suspicion.  
It wasn't long before they were facing the computer monitor.  
"Would you like to do the honours?" Sofi asked Amy.  
"Do I just point my Digivice at the screen like before?" she asked.  
"Talyn and I will hold onto you; that way we can all be transported in one go, so go for it."  
She did so, and the world flashed again and Amy found herself standing in the same forest as before, with the same dog jumping up to her.  
"Let her breath, Salamon," Talyn said, as Amy crashed into the ground.  
"You came back! You came back!" it exclaimed happily.  
"Um, ok, introductions," Sofi began, "That's your Digimon Salamon. This is Patamon, he's Talyn's Digimon."  
The hamster was sat on Talyn's shoulder.  
"My Digimon is Lopmon," Sofi finished, the rabbit was standing by her feet.  
The first thing Amy noticed however was the change in her clothes, and Talyn's, and Sofi's.  
"What happened to our clothes?" she asked.  
"Ah, it does that," Sofi said, "Again, we don't know why."  
"You don't know much about this place do you?"  
"Not at all," Talyn said.  
He wore the same suit as yesterday, shirt and black tie, waistcoat, trench coat, black skinny trousers and shoes. Sofi wore an orange hoody, skinny grey trousers, orange shoes, with a white scarf.  
Amy looked at her own clothes, a white t-shirt covered over with a pink jacket and skirt with black tights and white canvas shoes, and a beanie on her head.  
"Oh I like it!" she muttered.  
Sofi laughed, "Unfortunately you can't take those back with you."  
"Well that _is_ a damn shame; anyway, what do we do now?"  
"Let's go for a walk," Sofi suggested.  
They set off down the forest path; Talyn led the way with Patamon, whilst Sofi stayed next to Ami. Salamon and Lopmon stayed behind them.  
"So what do you do here? You said you weren't Digidestined," Amy asked.  
"It's complicated, but we think we're sort of temporary guardians, we look after the Digiworld, defeat evil Digimon, and we just make sure it keeps running normally," Sofi said.  
"So you've actually been in real fights with evil Digimon?"  
"Oh yes, many times. Most of them aren't your typical fantasy story evil; we just call them that to distinguish them from others. Sometimes we don't even have to fight them, it varies a lot," Sofi explained.  
"What's the worst Digimon you've faced?"  
Talyn stopped dead, as did Sofi.  
"Let's… not get into that right now," she said quietly.  
Amy knew she had trodden on soft ground, "Sorry."  
"It's ok, no harm done," Sofi replied, "It's kind of a bad event in our lives and… we'd rather not think of it."  
"I won't ask again," Amy promised, "Where are we going?"  
"To a weaker part of the Digiworld," Talyn interjected, "You need to train."  
"Train?" Amy said.  
"In two years, we've advanced quite a bit, so if you're going to join us, you'll have to catch up fast. Since you're only getting a taste however, we thought you may want to try a bit of what we do. There's always some commotion in this part of the Digiworld, so it's a good starting point," Sofi explained.  
"Will I have to fight?" Amy asked.  
"Probably not, but you can never be too careful," Sofi replied.  
"Don't worry Amy! I'll save you!" Salamon said.  
"Thanks, but you look as threatening as… well, marshmallows, can you actually hurt anything?" Amy replied.  
"Don't underestimate them," Sofi warned, "They've got powers you'd never suspect."

* * *

"I never gave you permission to plant on my land!" argued a Digimon.  
"I don't need your permission; this village belongs to the Digimon who live in it! Any land that's yours actually belongs to the village!" argued the other.  
"What's going on here?" Amy asked Sofi.  
"Couple of Gazimon arguing, why don't you try to diffuse it?" Sofi suggested.  
"What? Just walk over and… solve it?" she asked.  
"Yeah, we'll be here if you need backup," Sofi said.  
"But what am I supposed to do?"  
"Talk to them, find out which one is in the right, and deal with the other," Talyn explained.  
"Um, ok…" Amy strolled down the hill, Salamon at her heels, and strolled up to the little shacks. She found it strange, yet amusing, that Digimon lived in small villages just like these. This one was in a clearing in the forest, the ground was somewhat sandy, but had clumps of grass here and there; they must have been near a beach. The Gazimon were like humanoid rabbits, and were rather intimidating to her.  
"What do you want human?" asked one of them as he saw her approaching.  
"Uh, what's going on here? I've come to help," she muttered.  
"We don't need no human help! Get out of here," shouted the second Gazimon.  
"Hey that's not nice!" Salamon shouted back, "We're only trying to help."  
They paused, "Are you a Digidestined?"  
Amy considered what Sofi and Talyn had told her, "No."  
"So what are you doing here with a Digimon?"  
"I'm just… it's my first day, I'm just trying to find out what's going on," she explained.  
"First day huh..? Well, how about we show you what the Digiworld is _really_ like?"  
Amy didn't like the way he'd said that. Both Gazimon forgot their issue and started walking towards her and Salamon. She looked back to Sofi and Talyn, who seemed much further back than she remembered. They were talking amongst themselves, and hadn't seen her.  
The Gazimon started to surround her, one hit a bell and more Gazimon faces appeared out of the shacks; they walked out and ran towards Amy.  
"Salamon… How powerful are you?" Amy asked, unsure of what to do.  
"I can't take down a village!" Salamon complained.  
"We don't like _humans_ meddling in our affairs," one of the Gazimon said, "It looks like we'll have to teach you some manners."  
Amy sighed with relief as she saw Sofi and Talyn walking towards her.  
"Friends huh?" one of the Digimon said, before he tapped his foot quickly on the ground.  
Out of the sand sprang several larger Digimon, blocking off Sofi and Talyn.  
"Deal with the friends!" a Gazimon told them, "We'll take care of this one."  
"They're only rookie level," Salamon muttered, "But there are a lot of them."  
Amy was being backed into the forest, away from Sofi and Talyn; she didn't like this one bit.  
One of the Gazimon suddenly lunged forward, aiming for Amy. She ducked as Salamon jumped into it, knocking it away, but taking the blow.  
The small puppy fell to the ground in a heap, and Amy quickly jumped over to it.  
"Are you ok? Why on Earth would you do that?" she asked.  
"I've got to protect you," Salamon replied.  
"What? No you don't! Don't be silly," she exclaimed.  
"Eugh, that one's got a hard head," the Gazimon who'd jumped said, as it got to its feet.  
"I'll stop it… Electric stun blast!" roared another.  
Just as Salamon whipped to its feet, a black gas cloud erupted around them. Amy tried to jump away, but found her legs wouldn't move; Salamon was also stuck.  
"What is this?" she said.  
"Paralysis," said a Gazimon "Gives us a free shot without your little puppy jumping in the way."  
Amy looked around for Sofi and Talyn, but couldn't see them anywhere. She was on her own.  
"I only wanted to help!" she cried out.  
"We only wanted to be left in peace! You wanted to see the Digiworld? We'll show you right and proper, starting with your little friend."  
"No, leave her alone, she just followed me!" Amy said.  
Salamon was frozen solid, having been hit by the bulk of the cloud. The Gazimon slashed her across the face, knocking her over.  
"She's defenceless! You monster!" Amy said.  
Salamon cried out in pain as she was hit again.  
"Do something Amy!" Salamon squealed.  
"What?!"  
Amy was suddenly knocked off her feet by a Gazimon bashing into her back. She fell face first to the ground.  
As she landed and felt pain surge through her, she heard a beeping noise coming from her pocket.  
"Quick Amy! The beeping!" Salamon cried out, as she was tossed next to her.  
Amy shoved her hands into her pockets and found her Digivice, its screen was flashing furiously.  
"I'll get us out of this, Salamon, I promise," she said through gritted teeth, "I just need to work out how to use this."  
"We don't have time!" Salamon shouted. She was picked up and slashed at again.  
Amy was horrified; she looked from the Digivice to Salamon, who was being knocked around like a doll. The Gazimon had looks of evil on their faces; she was struck across the head and fell back to the ground.  
Her finger hit a button on the Digivice, and a small holographic screen popped out containing one word: Digivolve.  
"Press it Amy!" Salamon shouted.  
She did so, and light burst out from it, blinding Amy and the Gazimon. Salamon was freed, but she didn't attack, she started glowing.  
"Salamon, Digivolve to… Gatomon!" the Digimon shouted.  
Amy watched as the dog changed shape, and became a cat… somehow.  
"That's better, _now _I can move," Gatomon said.  
With that, she sprang up and started attacking the Gazimon back, with every hit they fell to the ground, knocked out. Gatomon was fast, much faster than Salamon, and apparently stronger too. Amy found she could walk again, and got to her knees to move out of the way, hiding next to a tree as 'her' Digimon jumped and sprang acrobatically around, blocking the Gazimon attacks and answering with her own hits. Soon, it was just Gatomon standing in the middle of a ring of 11 fallen Gazimon.  
"I Digivolved," Gatomon said, looking at her paws.  
Everything about the small dog had changed; even the voice was more… matured.  
"You know what this means?" Gatomon asked.  
"What?"  
"We're true partners!" the cat jumped up at her and hugged her. Strangely, it stood like a human would, on two legs.  
"Partners?"  
But Gatomon was too happy to answer. She clung to Amy saying "Partners!" over and over again; Amy couldn't resist a smile, even in cat form the Digimon was cute.  
She looked around, hoping to find signs of Sofi and Talyn, though the Gazimon attack had rendered her disorientated.  
"Um, Gatomon, what do we do about these Gazimon?" she asked.  
"Leave them I guess, they'll wake up with headaches, but maybe they'll have learned a lesson," Gatomon said, "Come on, let's go back."  
"You know the way?" Amy asked.  
"Your Digivice will, open it up."  
Amy took it out again, she pressed the button and the holographic display reappeared, this time with a map.  
"That red dot is us," Gatomon explained, "Look there's two more over there, which must be where Talyn and Sofi are."  
"Only one way to find out," Amy exclaimed, "Do you change back by any chance?"  
"You know what? I don't know," Gatomon answered, "Do you prefer cat or dog?"  
"I like this cat form of yours, you at least look a little intimidating," Amy said, "Sofi said I wouldn't have to fight. I'll have words with her."  
"But we did well! The Gazimon certainly won't bother us anymore," Gatomon said.  
"Yeah but I don't feel right about just leaving them here in the forest," Amy said.  
"They'll be fine, I just knocked them out. They know the way back."  
Amy felt strangely comfortable around the Cat, who walked on two legs in front of her. She certainly felt something in her heart about the cat, like she'd known it before…

* * *

"Numemon," Gatomon said.  
They'd found Talyn and Sofi surrounded by green mound-like creatures.  
"Oh there you are!" Sofi shouted, "So you got past the Gazimon? Nice one! And Salamon Digivolved by the looks of it, it's been a successful day for you two."  
"Do you need any help?" Amy asked, the Numemon were throwing piles of sludge at them, but Talyn and Sofi ducked and dodged them.  
"Can we finish this now?" Talyn asked.  
"Oh, go ahead," Sofi said.  
Talyn fumbled quickly with his Digivice.  
"Patamon, Digivolve to… Angemon!"  
Amy was stunned to see the orange hamster suddenly transform into a majestic white angel. Patamon, or now Angemon, attacked the Numemon with a golden staff, but instead of the Numemon falling over like the Gazimon did, they disappeared into streams of… stuff.  
"Why isn't he knocking them out?" she asked Gatomon.  
"Numemon are like the rats of the Digiworld, they're everywhere and highly overpopulated. Sometimes it's good to reduce them to data, you know, pest control," she explained.  
"He's killing them?!" Amy replied.  
"No, he's just sending them back to baby forms, lowering their data count, they'll be reborn again soon in a birthing village, it's just important not to have too many at once."  
"Can you kill Digimon?" Amy asked.  
"Oh yes, though only through certain methods. But I don't think you'd want to do that," Gatomon said.  
"Definitely not," Amy agreed.  
When Angemon was finished clearing out the Numemon, Sofi walked over to her, with a spring in her step.  
"So what do you think?" she asked eagerly.  
"What do I think? This place is dangerous!"  
"Oh, _this _place isn't dangerous, but the rest of the Digiworld is," she replied.  
"It is our job to ensure stuff like that doesn't happen to other, more innocent Digimon," Talyn said.  
Amy noticed Angemon had transformed back to Patamon, and was once again on Talyn's shoulder.  
"How do I turn Gatomon back?" she asked.  
"Usually it's through loss of energy, takes a lot to Digivolve for the first time, so it should happen soon," Sofi said, "what do you think? Will you help us?"  
"I guess I don't have a choice do I? Gatomon's pretty happy having me around," Amy replied.  
"Amy, we were chosen to do this," Talyn said, "Not because we _may_ be able to, but because we _can_ do it."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Remember when I told you no Digidestined had ever failed? Even if we aren't Digidestined, through the power of Digivolution, we can become stronger and protect this world better," he explained.  
"Plus, it's only temporary, so it's not like you'll be doing it for the rest of your life," Sofi said.  
"How long do we have to do it?"  
Sofi looked over at Talyn, and Amy saw something flash across both their eyes.  
"We reckon, till the end of the year," Sofi said quietly, "So, months at most."  
"Come on, let's return, we've accomplished what we set out to do," Talyn instructed.  
"Oh yeah, I should probably tell you, if you plan on coming back, for the first few times we want you to at least come here with one of us. We're going to train you! Today was your first lesson," Sofi said.  
"You planed the whole thing didn't you?" Amy asked.  
Sofi couldn't help smiling, "Yep! And you did great!"

* * *

"_She picked it up faster than we even did," Sofi noted.  
Talyn and she were walking home together, braced against the cold of February's winter._  
"_She still has a long way to go before she's level with us though," he replied._  
"_Obviously. But hopefully with our help it shouldn't take too long," she said._  
"_It'll be interesting to see just how quickly she gets to Ultimate, that's usually the hardest thing anyone has to face," Talyn noted.  
Sofi's chest constricted slightly at the memories, "No more of that Talyn, it's in the past."_  
"_You're right, I'm sorry," he replied._  
"_Guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Sofi said, indicating her turning off point._  
"_I guess so," he replied, and continued walking._


End file.
